Door-operating mechanism.



e. M. DERRY. DOOR OPERATYNG MECHANISM.

Patented June 8, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET I.

MPLICATION FILED AUG.25, 1913.

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THE Numus PETERS C0,. PHO1C-LITHG.. WASHING TON By C.

e. M. DERRY. DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-25, 1913.

Patented June 8, 1915.

4 SHEETSSHEET 2.

.l lllll I ZIIIIIIIII/fll/f/l l/MTA/ESSES v Z THE NORRIS PETERS CO4, PHOTO-1140., WASHINGTON, D, c.

Patented June 8, 1915.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

-L.|THO., WASHINGTUN. u L.

G. M. DERRY.

DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION man AUG.25, 1913.

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N W 2 MW 4 4 -m A a 6 2 W W THE NORRIS PETERS 50.. PHOTC G. M. DERRY.

DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED Aue.25, 1.91s.

1 ,142,405. Patented June 8,1915.

4 SHEETSSHEET 4.

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GEORGE M. DERBY, OF DANVERS, MASSACHUSETTS.

DOOR-OPERATING MECHANISM.

Application filed August 25, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE M. DERRY, a

citizen of the United States, residing at anism for automatically operating the doors of an elevator shaft.

My present invention is especially designed for factory and mill use where low speed elevators are used and where both the side and trap doors of the elevator shaft are of the suspended type.

Considerable difliculty has been experienced in devising automatic door operating mechanism -which would open and close both side and trap doors under the usual conditions and arrangements. It has been comparatively easy to open the top and bottom doors of the shaft by an operating mechanism on the elevator but when to this is added the difliculty of operating a door at an intermediate floor and furthermore that of not operating doors at certain floors the problem involved becomes diflicult.

To the end therefore of providing a satisfactory and practical door operating mech anism of this nature I have devised my present invention. The principle involved in my invention is, briefly, that of operating the doors from the elevator through the medium of the door suspension means itself, thus materially reducing the number of operating parts necessary and lessening the cost of installation.

My present invention, therefore, broadly stated, resides in the combination of a door suspension means and an operating means on the elevator for taking up and releasing the suspension means.

The construction and principle of my invention will be more fully discussed in the specification which follows and as illustrative of the same I have shown in the ,anneXed drawings an embodiment which has been found highly satisfactory in practice. It will be borne in mind, however, that owing to the limitations of space it has been necessary to exaggerate certain details. in

the drawings to. adequately illustrate the of the upper edge of the door to one end of construction involved. I I

Throughout specification and drawings Specification of Letters Patent.

' the direction of the arrow.

Patented June 8, 1915.

Serial No. 786,573.

similar numerals of reference will denote corresponding parts and in these drawings: Figure 1 is a general view through an elevator shaft equipped in accordance with my invention, the doors of the landing at which the elevator is shown as stopped being open and all other doors at other landings being closed. Fig. 2 is a vertical central section through the shaft at that floor at which the .elevator is represented as stopped and the doors opened in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 33 of Fig. 2 looking in Figs. 4: and 5 are details of the side door operating parts. Fig. 6 is a detail of the trap door operating parts. Fig. 7 is a plan of the side door operating parts showing an adjusting feature whereby a door at a desired landing may be passed without operating, and Fig. 8 is a detail of one of the pinions for the trap door showing the arrangement for preventing rotation thereof at a certain point in the travel of the elevator.

I shall first describe the operating mechanism for the side doors of the elevator shaft.

Referring to Fig. 1, I have indicated at 1 a portion of an elevator shaft of the ordinary type having in one or both of its side walls door openings 2 at each landing 3 adapted to be covered and uncovered by gravity side doors 4 sliding in vertical tracks 5. Each door has fastened to its bottom by the bolt and slot connections 6, an offset vertically slidable bottom piece 7. This piece is an emergency device and comes into action when for any reason the free descent of the door would be obstructed as by a block lodging in the path of the door at a landing. Should thiscontingency arise the bottom piece 7 will strike the obstruction and through its sliding connections will rise up leaving the door suspending cables still under tension. The piece 7 does not slide in the door tracks 5 but tilts up from either end or the center according to where the obstruction strikes it. Each door is suspended near its upper edge by two sets of suspension cables 10 connected with a winding and releasing mechanism and actuated by an operating mechanism on the eleator. later, and inasmuch as both sets are identical a description of one set will suffice. Each cable 10 is connected near the center a pair of oppositely disposed coil springs 11 These devices will be described v avhose other ends are fastened to the door itself by a bracket 12. The purpose of these springs is to reduce the shock of the door descent. Each cable from its vconnection with the spring 11 passes through an eye 13 near the corner of the door up over two pulleys 14 mounted on .a frame 9 secured to theshaft below each landing, thence partly across the elevator shaft to a third pulley 15 on said frame, and finally downwardly toa sheave or windingdrum 16 mounted in a bracket 17 adjustable by two sets of slot and bolt connections 17 and 19 (see F ig. 7) 011a wall bracket 19 in the elevator shaft. '{The adjustable. connections 17 and i 191 permit the bracket 17 to be moved back out of the way of the elevator when it is a not desiredto operate the door at a given landing; "Byhaving two sets of slot. and

bolt connections I am able to get a sliding adjustment of bracket 17, both toward and away from the wall and slightlyacross the same. This double adjustment also permits the pinion presently to be described to'be positioned accurately with respect to the operating devices carried by the elevator "and is particularly desirable where the parts have been inaccurately locatedin the assemblage. Set on'the inner end of the sameshaft that carries-the sheave 16 is an operating pinion 21 the hub of which is slotted as indicated at 22 for a purpose which will presently appear. This pinion Q preferably has eight teeth which are of sufii cientlength. and depth to provide adequate 'engaging surfa'cesfor the operating nieclr'v anisrn on the elevator. This operating mechanism for the plnions consists of two vertically disposed spaced racks 23 and 23, nu-- meral 23 indicatingthe upper and numeral indicatingthe'lower rack, fastened by brackets 2 1 un er 'to the suspension post: 25 of the elevator 8 which carries the'ele-' vator shoes 26 which slide along the elevator guides 27 and the hoisting pulley 28' to which the hoisting cable29 is connected.

Each rack isformed as a straight standard, one half of which is plain and the other half I providedwith rack'teeth. The arrangement is suchthat the rack teeth of one standard faces the plain part of the other standard leaving a spaceat the center where there are no teeth. The operating mechanism. may therefore be'callecl an oppositely disposed tandem rack. The upper'rac'k 23 operates to 1 raise the door asthe elevatortravels up the shaft The lower-rack 23" operates to lower the door as the elevator travels up the shaft;

.Forthe. down trip these operationsfare re-. versed and the "lower rack raises the door, and the upper rack lowers it. The bracket .24c' extends across the space at the center of thestandards where there are no rackteeth andi has slidably attached thereto by the screw and slot connections 31, a vertically lower rack 23 disposed dog 32 chamfered each end and i so positioned as to pass throughthe' slot .in

the hub ofthe pinion 21 when theelevator brings that space of the rack. barswhere Y 7 there are no teeth opposite said pinion; f-(See Fig. 1.) The dog thereforeactsas a lock to-holdthedoor open to its greatest extent v if at a landing. Referring to Fig.5 the action of this-dog will be more clear. In this fig- L'ure the elevatoris' supposed to be descending. The last toothof the lower rack 23 which operates first in the descent. is shown asi'meshing with the pinion 21 and the lower chamferedend' of the dog is disposedabove the vertical axis thereof so as to readily engage and lie in the slot 22 of the hub of the pinion on the further movement of the elevator." The rack 23 is'supposed to. have descended to engage the pinion and rotateit and thus the windingdrum 16'to wind up a door and at the point shownis just about to: v

leave the pinion. The'slot 22. inthe hubof the pinion at this point lies diagonally with respect to the dog. :As "theelevator and therefore the rack and dog continuejtheir I descent, the'rack willleave the pinion turning it enough, however, to bring the slot-22 V I "intoalinem'ent with the cham'fered end of the dog, whereuponthedogwill enter said 1 slot and lock thehub and thus the pinion against 7 rotation :at the point where there are no rack teeth. See Fig.4.) Thepinion shaft being new locked; and-the sheave 16., being set on this'shaft rotation ofthesheave is therefore prevented and the door is locked inopen raised position and 'cannotdescend to close while theicar is at a standstill but must be released by starting-the. elevator I either up or'down to withdraw the dogfrom" the slot. The dog'being fixed tothe elevator V descends with it and soon leaves the slot,

whereupon theiupperrack 23 which is likewise descending, engages thepinion to rotate V 1t andthus'the winding sheave 1n reverse direction to lower the door. If the'elevator instead of continuing down were returning up the shaft the action would be the'same,

the dogdeavingthe slotby reason of the upward movementofthe elevator and the the racks will release andtake up the pinion at the proper moment to bring the slot into registration with the dog.

' From the foregoing it will'be seen it is withdrawn from slot 22- bys'tarti'ng the 'whichhadjust operated} "would return upwardly to again engagethe pinion. The relation of rack and pinion teeth is therefore important to'insure that car, or in the case of a return trip up, the

lower rack 23 returns to engage the pinion of the elevator shaft and swing from their.

centers up against the sides of the shaft. Each door section is suspended by a suspension cable 35 which is fastened thereto at one end and passes up through a guide pulley 36 and over a sheave or Winding drum 37 fastened to the wall of the shaft at a point above the landing. Mounted on the shaft which carries this sheave is a pinion 38 of the same pitch as pinion 21 but having preferably only six teeth. A similar pinion 39 is mounted on a shaft journaled in bearings below the landing. The six-tooth pinion 38 although of the same pitch as the eight-tooth pinion is smaller in diameter and will therefore not engage with the opposite rack of the set of tandem racks as will the eight-tooth pinion. It is therefore necessary to use the second pinion 39 set so as to engage with the opposite rack and to couple these pinions by means of a suitable drive. A simple form of drive is shown in Fig. 1 in which a pulley 40 is mounted on the shaft of the pinion 38 and a pulley 41 on the shaft of the pinion 39 and are connected together by a rope, belt or other connection 4-2. The upper pinion 38 of each couple has its hub flattened on one side as indicated at 42, Fig. 8, to travel along a projecting rib 3% on the standard of the rack 23. This arrangement involves the same principle as does an intermittent gear riding into its period of rest, the teeth on the six-tooth pinion being so positioned with respect to the teeth in the rack that the flattened part of the hub engages the rib of the rack just as the rack is leaving.

' The operation so far is substantially as follows: As the elevator ascends the upper rack bar 23 thereon will first engage and rotate the lower pinion 39 of one of the couples, which through its connection 40, 41 and 42 will rotate the winding drum 37 and through the suspension cable 35 will raise the trap door. Inasmuch as the trap doors fold up against the sides of the elevator shaft it follows that they would interfere with the passage of the elevator shoes along the guide. To overcome this i have found it necessary to cut out a portion of the guide at each floor as indicated at 14 so that the door will fit recess flush with the guide'and to fasten to the under faces of the doors a guide section a5 which when the door is folded up takes the place of the guide that has been cut out thus forming a practicallv continuous guide. The elevator SllOL engages this guide section a5 and holds it and thus the trap door up, in open position. As the rack 23 continues its upward movement it engages and rotates the pinion 21 which through the connections before described will raise the side door. At this point the upper pinion 38 of the couple has its flattened portion 12 bearing against the rib 34: of the standard of the lower rack 23- The rack 23 will therefore slide along the flattened hub of the pinion 38 without rotating this pinion. Both side and trap doors are now open. The side door will be held open as long as the car is at a standstill by the engagement of dog 32 and slot 22. The trap door will be held open as long as the car is at a standstill bv the engagement of the elevator shoe with the guide sections thereof. As soon as the car has started up the shaft the lower rack bar 23 will engage and rotate the pinion 21 to lower the side door and in its further movement will engage and rotate the upper pinion 38 at the 'moment it is clear of the upper rack 23 which inion through the winding drum and suspension came will lower the trap door.

It is to be noted that in both types of my invention the doors are alwavs under suspension and they are operated through the medium of their suspension means. Considerable importance is attached to the fact that both the winding mechanism for the side door and the winding mechanism for the trap door are actuated by the tandem racks on the elevator and do not require in dividual operating mechanisms.

Various modifications in the form and construction of my invention may obviously be resorted to within the limits of the appended claims.

Vhat I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination an elevator shaft, suspended side and trap doors for said shaft, independent suspension means for said doors, a car in said shaft, a winding and unwinding mechanism for the suspension means of the side doors and an independent winding and unwinding mechanism for the suspension means of the trap doors, a single set" of engaging elements carried by said car and disposed to successively and independently actuate the respective winding and unwinding mechanisms of the side and trap doors by imparting opposite rotative motion thereto, to successively openand close the doors in either direction of travel of the elevator.

In combination, an elevator shaft, an

elevator in said shaft, suspended side and trapdoors, independent suspensionv means for said doors, a winding and unwinding mechanism for the suspension meansof the side. doors, an independent winding and unwinding mechanism for the suspension meansof the trap doors, and a single oppended closure, suspension means for-said for. a door, an elevator movable past said;

crating mechanism for said sets of SUSPGH.

sion means including oppositely disposed engaging devices associated with the ele vator and effective to successively and independently actuate therespective winding and unwinding mechanism of the. side and trap doors by imparting opposite rotative motion thereto to successively open and close the doors.

3. In'combination, an elevator shaft, an

elevator in said shaft, elevator doors of the suspended type, suspension means for said doors, a winding mechanism for said suspension means including a slotted pinion, actuating elements associated with said elevator and effectively disposed to impart intermittent opposite rotation to'said pinion to open and close the doors, and aloclring device associated. with, said actuating eleinents and having a locking engagement with the slot of said pinion when the elein open position. r a. In-combinatioma moving body, a susclosure, an 7 actuating mechanismv associated with said moving "body, a winding andunwinding mechanism for said closure'including' a slotted pinionefliectively disposed for actuation in either direction by theactuating mechanism and means cooperating with said slot in the pinion for locking said pinion against'rotationwhen the moving body at a standstill. V I V r r 5. In combination with suspension means :doorfa winding mechanism for the suspens onmeans and effectively disposed in.

thepath .ofsaid elevator, actuating means carried by said elevator for actuating sald Windingmechanism to open and close, the

door, and'a slidable bottom section on said door forinsuring that the suspension means of said closure will always be iuider. tension. .7 V 6. In an elevator shaft a doorpan elevator, air-operating mechanism for opening and'clo singjsaid door including-coupled rotatable members one'of which has a flat-f tened enga ing surface, and engaging elementslcarried by said elevator and disposed I te rotatively engage said coupled members successively in opposite directions, one of said :elements having a sliding bearing on V said flattened surface;

7. In an elevator shaft a door, an ele' vat-or, an operatingmechanism for opening andcloslng said do'orincludmgcoupled r0.-

' vator is at a stand still for locking the doors '30 ing mechanisms tatable members one of which has a flat tened engaging surface, and a {pairf-of' spaced oppositely effective engaging ele-fl ments carried by said elevator and disposed to rotatively engage said coupled members,

successively in opposite, directions, one of sald rotatable members and one 'of' said,

engaging elements havinga sl-iding'engagement during a partof the travel of the. elevator to prevent rotation ofsaid member.

8 In aneleva-torshaft, a door, an elevator, an operating mechanism for opening and. closing said door including a pair of- V coupled pln ons (one of whlch has: its hub: flattened, andengaging elements carried by i saidelevator and disposed to rotatively engage saidpinions successively in opposite directions, one of said engaging elements having aprojecting flat bearing-surface ef-v fective to; slidably engage the fiat part of the pinion hub and. preventrotation of the pimon during apart ofthe tr f the elevator. 7

9. In} combination, an elevator. shaft, an I elevator, suspended side and trap closures, independent suspension means for said closures, a windingand'unwinding mechanism for the suspension means of the side cloe sures, an independent winding and unwinding mechanism for the suspension-means of the trap closures including coupledrotatable I sures.

elements, and a single set of actuating elemerits associated with said elevator and disposed to successively. and independently actuate. the, respectivewinding and unwind of the side and trapaclo 10, In combination, an .elevator shaft, an ii I elevator, suspended side and trap closures,-

independent suspension means for saidclosures, a Winding and 'unwmding mechanism for the suspension means of the side clo,

sures, an independent; winding and unwinding mechanism for the suspension means of c the trap closures including coupled rotatable elements, and actuating elements associated with said elevator and disposed to succes sively' and independently 'actuatethe re spective ding and unw nding mehanisms of the side and trap closures," one of said actuating elements] having a sliding. engagement with one; of the coupled rota table ;elements to; prevent rotation of'said. element-during apart 'ofthe travel of the. .elevator.

11. In combinatiom'anelevator shaft, an

elevator, suspendedside and trap closures,

nisms of both sets of closures, and a' yielding contact section at the lower edge of each side elevator, a winding. and unwinding mecha- Y nism for said suspension means of the side doors selectively movable into and out of the operative influence of the pair of actuating elements, and an independent windand unwinding mechanism for the suspension means of the trap doors including coupled actuatable members disposed normally one within the operative influence of each independent suspension means for said actuating element.

13. In combination, an elevator shaft, an elevator, suspended side and trap doors,

doors, a pair of actuating elements on said elevator, a winding and unwinding mechanism for said suspension means of the side doors selectively movable into and out of the operative influence of the pair of actuating elements, and an independent winding and unwinding mechanism for the sus pension means of the trap doors including coupled actuatable members disposed normally one within the operative influence of each actuating element, one of said actuat-- ing elements having a sliding engagement with one of said coupled actuatable elements to prevent actuation of that element during a part of the travel of the elevator.

14;. In combination, a moving body, suspended side and trap closures, independent suspension means for said closures, independent winding and unwinding mechanisms for the suspension means of both sets of closures, and a single actuating mechanism associated with said moving body and effectively disposed to successively and in- Oopies of this patent may be obtained for a in presence of dependently actuate the respective winding and unwinding mechanisms of both sets of closures.

15. In combination, an elevator, an actuating mechanism carried thereby, independently suspended side and trap doors, and independently acting, opening and closing mechanisms operatively connected with the suspension means for said sets of doors actuated successively by said actuating mechanism on the elevator.

16. In combination, an elevator, a single actuating mechanism carried thereby, a suspended sliding side door, an independently suspended hinged trap door, and independently acting opening and closing mechanisms for both sets of doors actuated successively by the single actuating mechanism on the elevator.

17. In combination, an elevator, an actuating'mechanism carried thereby, side and trap doors, independently acting opening and closing mechanisms for said doors, and a locking device adjustably mounted in said elevator and positioned for locking engagement with the opening and closing mechanism for said side doors and disposed out of the way of the opening and closing mechanism for the trap doors.

18. In combination, an elevator, an actuating mechanism carried thereby, a side door, an opening and closing mechanism for said door including a slotted engageable element in the path of said actuating mechanism and a double ended locking device for said engageable element having an entering engagement in the slot of said element in either direction of travel of the elevator.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature two witnesses.

GEORGE M. DERBY. Witnesses:

EDWARD B. FLINT, THERON E. BATOIIELDER.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 6." 

